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Per-Thegoldenmomentsforushere

Per Mertesacker had not been long in his new role as academy manager when he was faced with his first challenge.

The chance came up for highly-rated under-18s head coach Kwame Ampadu to join Thierry Henry's staff at Monaco, so how did Per react to it?

"That showed as well that every single day there’s something you need to cover, there’s something that will surprise you and you need to be prepared for," Mertesacker told Arsenal Player.

"These are the golden moments because there is an opportunity for a coach that worked for us brilliantly to go to a first team.

"When a player goes to the first team, it’s a golden moment and we have to cover the ground behind it so these golden moments will come in a time where everyone is set and the coaches are set, and you know what you’re going to do, how your academy is and how are the people reacting.

"We said to Kwame that he deserves it and we let him go and let him go to what is a brilliant opportunity.

"We sorted it and we’re trying to figure out who is the best person to replace him as head coach of the under-18s, who is going to be someone that is going to assist the new under-18s coach and who takes the new role that has been left over. These are the moments that you have to be grateful for and work things out."

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